User blog:Eyghon/Why read Grimm Fairy Tales?
I'm writing this post so that people who accidentally stumble upon this wiki may read it and start reading Grimm Fairy Tales (after this abrevviated to GFT) as well. I'm going to start with telling how I discovered GFT (although you may not be interested in this, it's still my blog so tough luck) and topping it of with a review (the reasons why I'll keep reading GFT). After the airing of the excellent NBC series'' Grimm'', my former interest in fairy tales was resurrected from somewhere deep inside my head. Not my childhood interest, but my interest about their origin. As you may or may not know, fairy tales come from an oral tradition of folktales, passed down in European cultures dating back to Αἴσωπος (or Aesop for the anglophones). These folktales were later collected and written down by, among others, Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, although the Brothers Grimm "corrupted" the stories (read: made them suitable as childrens' bed-time stories). To people who want to know more about the genre of fairy tales, I'd recommend them reading the essay "On Fairy-Stories", by J.R.R. Tolkien. Now, after a little detour, back to my interest being piqued by NBC's Grimm. It got me interested in reading a comic series based on fairy tales (and not the Brothers Grimm lovey-dovey crap but the real deal I just wrote about). The thing is: as a college student I have an acute lack of money, so I had to choose one out of ...many comic series to spend on. The question was of course: which series? After some quick searching I discovered that the largest series (largest meaning good since people keep buying the issues) are'' Marvel Fairy Tales'' (by Marvel of course),'' Fables'' (by DC Comics's Vertigo) and Grimm Fairy Tales (by Zenescope Entertainment). The choice was quickly made, I wanted to read something from a smaller, non-mainstream publisher1 (not specialising in super hero comics). So, Grimm Fairy Tales it became. The next question is: why keep reading GFT? Let's have a look at wat GFT has to offer, both story-wise and art-wise. The first thing that one notices if he buys an issue of GFT (except if you buy a TPB) is the women. Beautiful women. Lots of them. Well endowed. Revealing outfits. The interior art is similar, although somewhat toned down. Conclusion 1 is: GFT offers a lot of fan service. But fan service isn't necessarily a bad thing if it's combined with a good story. So is the story good, or does it contain the typical damsels in distress, the fan service for fan service's sake? Although GFT sometimes has damsels in distress, they aren't rescued by prince charming but by other women. That's right: the main characters are mostly women. Although I think that some feminists take it too far, it's the sad truth that most media are still defined by gender-based tropes. GFT breaks away from this tropes, kind of reminds me of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The characters havewell rounded, realistic personalities. To quote Ralph Tedesco (one of the founders and main writers of Zenescope Entertainment): "I've always said that anti-heroes are my favorite characters in any type of medium whether that be film, television or books. If compelling enough, a flawed, unlikely hero is more interesting to me any day of the week over a flawless one. I think even if that character has done something we ourselves are not capable of doing, even if he or she committed an act that is reprehensible, we as readers still want to believe that character can change because maybe it means that we ourselves can right a wrong. And although we all have regrets, we'll always have the ability to play the hero in one form or another and at one time or another." Couldn't have said it in a better way. Readers love flawed characters because they can relate to them, since 'to err is human'. Next up: the genre. Although GFT is somewhat a mixed genre, depending on which issue you're reading, it's mostly advertised as horror. One of the recurring elements is that Sela (the main character) meets someone who has a dilemma or important decision to make in his/her life. Sela then gives the person her book to read, which contains a story that parallels the person's predicament. The story is meant to help them in making their decision. Both the horror genre and the 'moral' element of the comic can be linked to the origin of fairy tales (as told above). Fairy tales didn't (always) have a happy ending, they were meant to learn you how to survive the big, bad world and teach you about the consequences that your actions can have. So, do all these elements combine into something? I think GFT is an interesting adult (as in not childish) comic with well-written, non-gender biased characters that interests readers because although the stories have a familiar tone, they are still full of surprising plot twists. The covers may or may not be the reason that people start reading the comic, but they'll keep reading because of the story. 1Note: I'm not saying there's anything wrong with large publishers. I'm just not into the super hero genre, although I think that DC has published some amazing titles like V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Preacher, Promethea and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (although the last 2 are technically America's Best Comics). But looking at this list of good comics, it seems to depend more on the writer/artist than the publisher. Category:Blog posts Category:Blog posts